The Triage of Spring Farming

This time of year it seems like we are in a constant state of triage. Every morning at our meeting with all our guys we make a plan for the day and for the week, one that I’m sure will change (and usually does) at the drop of a hat.  So our triage is fluid, it’s constant, and in the spring time many times it sounds something like this…

  • What is the weather going to be like today?
  • What is the weather going to be like this week?
  • What is the most important thing to get done today?
  • What needs to be done before the rain?
  • What needs to be done once it is dry?
  • What can be done while it’s raining/wet?
  • Ok so to get that done, what needs to be done first?
  • Can that tractor do that too, or should we wait and use this one?
  • Who is going to get that done?
  • Wait…that’s broke down?  Shoot, ok Plan G it is then!
  • And on…and on…and on…

With six different crops on our farm this year, all at different growing stages that need to be taken care of, the tasks at hand are plenty.  We have some fields that are still being fertilized, some that need fungicide, a few that need broadleaf sprays and another that needs to get a growth regulator put on it.  So add to that the potential for a very sunny week and we have a lot on our hands.  As my husband in his first spring of farming put it, “You are all so laid back when it’s raining, but then the sun comes out and it’s complete mayhem, GO GO GO, to get everything done before the next set of showers!!  This farming is crazy!”

Not to mention the constant elephant in the room, my large belly, that is due to pop at any moment.  I’m really hoping it has some sort of sixth sense about this whole farming thing though and decides to wait until we’re in a small break in the action.  I would really like my husband to be with while I’m giving birth versus spraying fungicide on our grass fields!  Happy Monday folks!

Photo Friday…Geese at an All You Can Eat Buffet

I think it’s aboot time for these Canadian geese to head home!! After just a few grazing hours in our clover field this week they did a ton of damage!

20140425-103242.jpgOn the left is our beautiful tall green clover, on the right is where the grazing happened, leaves totally gone and lots of stems remain.

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It still amazes me how fast they can eat through a crop. But when it’s you and 3000 of your closest friends, bulking up for a trip north, at an all you can eat buffet…let’s just say I don’t think they care that it’s our livelihood they are consuming!

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I think they got to about 15 acres before we scared them off. So I guess here’s to hoping they leave soon aye?!

Local Issues with Larger Repercussions?

This past fall I testified on behalf of a measure at the Oregon State legislature that would distinguish legislative control over what farmers in Oregon can and cannot grow be left at the state level.  The reasoning behind the need for seed pre-emption is a lengthy one but comes down in the most simplest terms that there were a few counties who were trying to ban the growing of GMO crops.  They were trying to put the burden of enforcement on county governments, who can’t afford the costs that this would bring.  But beyond that, they were taking away farmer’s rights to use technology that has been deemed safe time and time again.

The measure was passed in a special session package that was signed into law last fall.  The only exception was Jackson county, who had already gotten the signatures required to get a ban on growing GMO crops on their ballot this spring.  Here in lies the local issue, a local issue that if passed would not only hurt the county where it passes, it also hurts the farmers who are trying their best and growing safe food for the world while limiting their options for what to grow.  Plus this could bring statewide changes, and that is something that as a farmer I don’t want to see.

Photo courtesy of Protect Oregon Farmers https://www.facebook.com/ProtectOregonFarmers
Photo courtesy of Protect Oregon Farmers https://www.facebook.com/ProtectOregonFarmers

But the main reason that I bring up this issue is the part that makes me the most frustrated…it’s pitting farmer against farmer.  I have heard time and time again from people I know who live in that county, “We heard that the farmers are for this measure.”  The truth is that only one part of the farming industry is behind this measure, the ones who are out to destroy conventional farmers who have also been in the area for generations making their living off the land.  There is room in agriculture for all types of farmers and it’s going to take ALL OF US to feed this world into the future.  So without trying to sound too cliche, why can’t we all just get along?  Why can’t we work together with our neighbors and figure out how to all coexsits?

I think that this is an issue that won’t be going away soon.  With labeling being a huge conversation in the talk of GMO at all levels of government, not to mention state initiatives that are being put on ballots across the country state by state.  But let’s not all lose sight of the fact that farmers are out there working their butts off to feed their family, their employee’s families, and people all over the world.  So why would we want to limit our ability to do just that by breaking up regulations on a county by county level, or even as a state by state ruling?

You can see what efforts are being made right now by checking out the No on Measure 15-119 facebook page.